Another NUTHA

Early start on the Farmland Foraging Bird Project in Suffolk this morning. Another disappointing ringing session at Dairy Farm. A breeze blew through the game cover strip all morning, and a sparrowhawk enjoyed chasing all the passerines back and forth, resulting in just two, yes two, birds caught:

CHAFF 3F
LINNE 4F

Both new birds.

Back at home I opened the net for half an hour, and within seconds a Nuthatch found it.

This is the 3rd for the garden since July, so very pleased with that! My wife took the pic.

The totals were:

BLABI 1(1)

GOLDC 1

COATI 1

BLUTI (2)

GRETI 9 (2)

NUTHA 1

Not bad for half an hour's effort.

And a few Bunts out of the Reeds!

Managed to get a net up late this afternoon to try to catch some of the Reed Buntings coming into the phragmites around the lake fringe at Little Bofus.

Nowhere near as many birds there as there were the other day (probably about 50 REEBU in the flock), but had a small catch:

ROBIN 1
LOTTI 1
BLUTI 1
REEBU 5

A couple of Pied Wagtails spent an hour flying around, over, and even trying to walk under the net, but neither of them actually found a pocket. Shame, that would have been nice.

Bunts in the Reeds

Back to work yesterday, which has put paid to my mid-week ringing sessions. However, I wandered up to Rushgreen Meadow this afternoon to feed the sheep, and came back alongside Baby Bofus Lake at dusk. Good to see about 200 Reed Buntings dropping into the reeds to roost. Might have to pop back with a net at the weekend!

Lots of Fieldfare around too, but not too many Redwings.

Roe Deer! Oh Dear!

Went out to do the next session for the Foraging Farmland Bird Project this morning. Very disappointing. A 6am start, and by 10am I'd caught 4 birds:

Wren (1)
Dunnock 1
Robin (2)

Not a great success. So, I packed up and headed over to Rushgreen Grove, a small wood at the back of the estate here at Wyken where I monitored a few nests back in the summer.

Wren 1
Robin 2
Goldcrest 1
Long-tailed Tit 14
Blue Tit 11
Treecreeper 3

All new birds. The session was spoilt slightly when a roe deer buck walked through the net, completely destroying the bottom shelf - and this a brand new North Ron net! I was livid!

Went off home to bag a few birds there before dusk:

Robin (1)
Marsh Tit 1 (4)
Coal Tit 2 (2)
Blue Tit 1
Great Tit 1 (1)

Totals for the day:

Wren 1 (1)
Dunnock 1
Robin 2 (3)
Goldcrest 1
Long-tailed Tit 14
Marsh Tit 1 (4)
Coal Tit 2 (2)
Blue Tit 12
Great Tit 1 (1)
Treecreeper 3

38 New Birds, 11 Retraps, 49 in total + 1 Roe Deer!

MARTI update

A bit of garden ringing today - first in my own garden at Wyken, then in my brother-in-laws at Mildenhall.

In my own, managed to trap a MARTI that has so far evaded the nets. This one, a 4F, nipped into a drop trap just minutes after I'd set it, and she became LBR,M;RBY,R with BTO ring Y452210.

Also in the garden, though sighted only, were two of the other colour-ringed MARTIs from my RAS project, LBR,M;RBRB & LBR,M;RBR,W - both made frequent visits to the feeders throughout the morning.

Totals for the day:

New (retrap)

Wyken

MARTI 1 (2 - sighted only)
BLUTI 2 (2)
GRETI 1

Mildenhall

ROBIN 1
GOLDC 1
MARTI 2
GRETI 1
BLUTI 12

Foreign Control Robin from Holland

Started the first official session of the Suffolk Foraging Farmland Bird Project today (the project runs from 1st November to 31st March).

A fairly quiet morning, with just 18 birds caught:

BLABI 1
ROBIN (1)
DUNNO 3
WREN 1
BLUTI 1
CHAFF (1)
GREFI 2
YELHA 7
REEBU 1

The best of this bunch were the Robin and the Chaffinch.

The Chaffinch was first ringed by me on 22.9.11, in my own garden. This means it's now joined up with the foraging flocks and has travelled to the southern limits of the farm - only 1.72km as the Fringilla flaps, but still nice to know it's going strong.

The Robin was quite a lot more exciting. I actually caught this bird on 28th October, got it's ring number (BA65008), but forgot to check to see if it was a BTO ring! Doh! It wasn't until afterwards that I realised it was probably a foreign bird. Fortunately, it came out of the net again this morning, so I could check the country of origin. It is part of the Arnhem scheme in Holland! A good record for me here, and a lesson learned as well!

Weather permitting I'm going to try the game cover strips along the Ixworth Plains part of the farm tomorrow morning. I'll then have to switch to a different part of the farm until later in the year as the shooting season is about to start here.

More colour-ringed Marsh Tits, and the return of a chick!

Headed out to the Dales end of the Farm at Wyken again first thing, and had 3 nets up as the daylight gathered. Unfortunately the wind also picked up quite early, threatening to blow the nets into the hawthorn hedge that runs alongside of the net lane, so packed up early.

Totals from Dales Field:

Wren 1
Dunnock 1
Greenfinch 2
Yellowhammer 2
Reed Bunting 2

Headed home for a late breakfast, then decided to go try to find a sheltered spot in Kiln Wood to see if I could find any new Marsh Tits to colour ring for my proposed RAS.

Put a couple of nets in Ride 1, and in a couple of hours had a small haul, but had managed to get two new Marsh Tits in the bag. They were LBR,M;RBR,K, and LBR,M;RBR,N. Both were adults, and I suspect they were the pair that nested in one of the nearby tit boxes (I ringed 8 pulli from this box).

Totals from Ride 1 in Kiln Wood:

Wren 1
Goldcrest (1)
Marsh Tit 2
Great Tit 2

Keen to get more Marsh Tits out of Kiln Wood I drove right to the back compartment where so far I'd not done any ringing. Put up a single 18m net along Ride 9, played some LOTTI music, and within 10 minutes had a real mixed bag of tits, including 2 more Marsh Tits.

One of the Marsh Tits became LBR,M;RBR,L, while the other one was already ringed (L671513). Interestingly, this came out of the tit box in May, where I'd caught LBR,M;RBR,K, and LBR,M;RBR,N in Ride 1 just an hour earlier. Seems likely that that pair are the parents of L671513. Either way, this youngster had travelled about 1km, and stayed within the same wood. I always metal ring on the right leg, but unfortunately when my colour ring project was given the go ahead recently I was allotted the position of metal ring on the left leg, so this particular tit will have to remain without colour rings!

Totals from Ride 9 in Kiln Wood:

Wren 1
Goldcrest 2
Long-tailed Tit 6
Marsh Tit 1 (1)
Coal Tit 1
Blue Tit 1

Looks like Ride 9 is going to be a good site all-round. It's long enough for 3 x 18m nets in a line, and passes through some lovely old oak wood, mixed with a few Scots pine and larch (though they're likely to be felled fairly soon). There's a lot of hazel, holly, and bramble shrub layer, and bracken, etc as ground layer, so could be very promising. Bring on the summer warblers!